Shortstop Maddie Hupprich suffered an injury while covering second base on a steal. The opposing player slid late, trying to force the ball out of her glove. Instead of hitting her glove, the player slammed into her left arm and she was taken out of the game. This was a major concern for the three-sport-athlete.
“I knew it was something bad when i couldn’t raise my arm,” stated Hupprich.
Hupprich is a captain of all three sports she plays. Her favorite sport has always been softball, but has a natural talent in volleyball and basketball as well. However, all of this was in jeopardy when her doctor mentioned the word, “surgery.”
Following that game on June 18th, Hupprich went to the doctor and had to be evaluated for her injury. After an MRI, her doctor concluded that she had a torn labrum in her left, non-throwing arm. Before volleyball season began, her doctor said if she plays through this injury, it could get worse and possibly tear all the way through. If that were to happen, then she would be unable to lift her left arm.
Hupprich is not one of the players to back down from a challenge. Having said, entering senior year with an explosive amount of potential, Hupprich was faced with a huge decision–surgery, or sports. Since volleyball season was less than a month away, she chose sports. She was not willing to give up all three senior nights for a surgery.
With this injury, Hupprich is coming off an impressive volleyball season where she earned All-State and All-NVL honors. She is one of five NVL players to make the All-State team.
“I was setting my record to make the All-Iron Team, so the fact that I made All-State means a lot. Setters never really receive a lot of recognition so the fact that I’m a setter and actually got recognized is pretty cool,” explained Hupprich.
In order to receive these honors, Hupprich put up a very impressive scoreline for the season. She ended the season second on the team with kills with 86 and led the team with 89 aces. Maddie was one of the best servers on the team this year. Whenever she was behind the line, a service streak was sure to follow.
After one full season, Hupprich says she is feeling pretty good, “Some days are worse than others, but overall, I’m feeling pretty confident going into basketball season,” said Hupprich.
Let it be known, Hupprich is not a newcomer so injuries. In the past, she quite literally sold her body to the bleachers when a volleyball went into the stands last season. Hupprich sustained a concussion from that play and was sidelined until she passed the concussion test.
The girls first basketball game was Tuesday the 13th of December. Hupprich had been looking forward to getting back on any kind of court after being away from volleyball for several weeks. During the game, Hupprich played as if she wasn’t even injured. Coming off a year where she averaged over five points per game, she looks to improve that number this year as she scored several times in game one.
In game two, Hupprich continued to shine. Maddie put up a career high twenty points on the road against Ansonia. Usually, the highest scoring player is Morina Bojka, who averaged eighteen points per game last season, but Hupprich was able to out score the main Hawks guard.
“I really felt on top of my game. Everything came together and I just wanted to stay on the court so I had to prove myself,” she commented.
Even though she is worried about her injury, she knows that she will be able to contribute to her team and knows not to push herself. Just like during softball, she will notify her coach if there is too much pain, but Hupprich is the kind of player that will play through anything.
